


As The Miles Go By

by Marine_is_Hope



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, M/M, Most of the time, Multi, Near Future, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Post-Heroes of Olympus, Road Trips, hades is a good dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-04
Updated: 2014-03-04
Packaged: 2018-01-14 12:17:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1266229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marine_is_Hope/pseuds/Marine_is_Hope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What are you supposed to do after you single-handedly win a war? Would you try to stop another, run and hide, or would you try to make something new? Would you go searching for those who had disappeared without a trace? Three months after the battle with Gaea, Nico is running and Jason is searching. Piper is just trying to keep everything together. In the end, it all boils down to one last question: how far would you go to overcome the past? How many miles would you travel to save someone who doesn’t believe that they deserve a new beginning?</p>
            </blockquote>





	As The Miles Go By

**Author's Note:**

> This all started as a dare that was supposed to only be 500 words based on the word 'road-trip'. Ha! Yeah right! It was also supposed to be platonic Jasico, which is the bane of my existence because it isn't possible with me. I don't know why. Then it turned into Jasperno and kept getting longer. Anyway, I'm finally done with it! Yay! Tell me what you think, 'kay?

They had done it. They had made it. They had defeated Gaea and had stopped the war. Nico couldn’t hear the cheers over the ringing in his ears. He looked on from the shadows as Annabeth threw her arms around Percy and drew him in for a kiss. They were smiling, laughing, and crying. Nico ignored the clinching of his heart with practiced ease as he took a step back from Reyna. He watched as the Praetor was embraced by her people, her Romans. For once she, too, was laughing. Frank was spinning Hazel so that only her toes skimmed the ground. Nico’s sister has her arms wrapped around her boyfriend’s neck, for once not caring about what the others were thinking or doing.

Jason had his arm wrapped around Piper’s waist. He kissed at the top of her head. He was hovering about three inches about the ground. Nico couldn’t help but smile at that. No one noticed when the son of Hades opened up a portal and stepped backwards into it. He landed on his bed in Hades’ Palace. For the first time in a long while, he found that he was able to just enjoy the silence of the dead. Nico finally found that he was able to dream. That night, he had no nightmares.

It was only an hour later, as the celebrations got into full swing that Jason looked around with a confused look on his face and a worried glint in his eyes. “Where’s Nico?” He asked Piper, who cocked her head and shrugged. She wasn’t too concerned. She hadn’t been there when Nico had promised to leave forever. Immediately, Jason broke away from the main group, drawing the attention of both Reyna and Hazel. They noticed too. It took them ten minutes to search the camp. There was no sign, sight, or hair of the son of Hades. Jason felt as though someone had punched him in the stomach. “Shit.” He muttered, glaring into the shadows of the woods. “Shit, shit, shit. You weren’t supposed to leave yet. I was supposed to be able to stop you. You weren’t supposed to go away—” Someone came up from behind the son of Jupiter, carefully making their footsteps loud enough so that they wouldn’t startle the blonde. Jason was protective of his back, if only for the fact that it was a blind spot that shouldn’t be there because he was supposed to be perfect. He was supposed to be the golden-boy who lived up to everyone’s expectations.

“Jason?” He turned to look at a worried Piper. She looked beautiful in the moonlight with a hand on her dagger and her kaleidoscope eyes glittering with worry and confusion. Jason didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know what he could say. So, instead of speaking, he walked up to the daughter of Aphrodite and nuzzled at her neck.

She seemed to understand to a point: all that she did was wrap her arms around him. She didn’t say anything when he released a shaky breath or when he clutched her just a shade too tightly. 

Piper’s patience lasted for all of three months. It was twelve weeks of intense cuddles, broody eyebrows, pursed lips, and Jason beating the shit out of anyone who dared face him in the training ring. While the first change wasn’t a problem, the others were. Piper just gritted her teeth and continued to learn how to spar. Finally, that she got fed up with it all.

So, Jason was woken up at five in the morning by a more than slightly annoyed girlfriend holding her packed bag and the keys to one of Camp Half-Blood’s vans. “Get packed. We are going to go find the idiot.” No one needed clarification on which idiot they were talking about. All that Jason found himself confused about was how Piper came by the keys.

“Where did you get Chiron’s permission to take the—oh…”

“Yeah, oh, let’s go, before people notice it’s gone.”

“You didn’t—”

“The last time I charm-spoke someone into giving me their car, I was sent to Wilderness School. I’m not going down that road again. Now, let’s go.” Jason didn’t need to be told that for a third time. In less than ten minutes, his bag was packed and they were off.

“So, from what I’ve managed to squeeze out of Annabeth, there is an entrance to the Underworld in Los Angeles.”

“Do we know where?”

“A recording Studio.”

“Okay, that’s detailed. Do we know which one?” The stare that the son of Jupiter received told him all that he needed to know. The two went quiet with Jason staring down at his hands and Piper staring out the windshield. It was a comfortable silence, but there was something deeper hiding beneath it that neither of the two teenagers were willing to admit was there.

 

They stopped at a McDonalds on the Pennsylvania-Ohio border for lunch. The trip there had been quiet and uneventful. There was only one slight construction blockage, due to a few rogue Lamias running around causing havoc. Jason and Piper had managed to take them out in less than ten minutes before they were back on the road again.

Lunch was greasy, but decent. Jason watched Piper eat her fries with interest. She literally smothered them in ketchup before popping them into her mouth, three at a time. “What are you going to do now that the War is over?” He asked her.

Piper blinked and then pondered about it for a minute, swirling a fry in her pool of ketchup thoughtfully. “I don’t really know.” She finally responded, “Maybe I’ll go to college. I’ve always thought that I could be a prosecutor if I tried hard enough.” Jason laughed at that.

“That would suit you. The whole world would have the right to fear you. You’d have everyone wrapped around your little finger, myself included.”

“Oh really now?” Piper said, a playful smirk playing at the right corner of her lip. At Jason’s nod, she sat straighter up, “And what do you want to do?”

“Follow in my father’s footsteps and become the president of the world.” The blond joked, taking a sip of their shared milkshake.

“Sparky, be serious.” Piper said, pointing a fry threateningly at him.

“Alright, alright,” The blond said, holding his hands up, “Actually, I’ve always liked the idea of being a defender of law and order as well. Though I could never be a prosecutor, I’ll tell you that much.”

“You always see the best in people.” Piper agreed, her voice softer than it had been. She took another bite of fries. “What about Nico?” Her voice was muffled but still clear. Her eyes were soft but stern at the same time. They seemed to stare straight into Jason’s conscience.

“What about him?” Jason asked, trying to ignore the way that his palms began to sweat at the mention of the younger boy. He passed the shake over to Piper, who took a grateful sip from it.

“Jason, we are driving across the nation to hunt down a depressed and emotionally unstable boy who doesn’t want to be found. There has to be a reason for this. Tell me what it is.”

“I want him to have a happy ending.”

“That’s a good thing.” There was no sarcasm in Piper’s voice, but her eyes still had a critical edge to them, as if she were analyzing every single word that came out of Jason’s mouth. 

“He’s been through more than most people could handle,”

“We all have, that’s why they call us heroes.” Piper smiled as she said those words. The faint upturn of her lips weren’t exactly happy; however, in fact, the grin almost looked sad. Jason reached over and intertwined their fingers. Piper’s grin widened and lightened ever so slightly as she ran her thump along the pad of Jason’s palm.

 

They got IM’ed six different times by dinner time. Three were from Mr. D, and should not be repeated in public company. They had a great deal to do with dolphins and certain anatomical parts being used in ways they shouldn’t.

One was from Percy who, once filled in on what was going on, hesitantly asked them if they wanted him to help. He looked far too relieved for Jason’s approval when Piper turned down his offer with a smile.

Leo’s message was all sorts of bent out of shape that they didn’t come ask him if he wanted to come. However, after they explained that they were looking for Nico, he decided that it was better to continue working on getting Calypso back than to hunt for ‘Ickle McBroodykins’ with his best buds. He said that he was still annoyed with them and would remember this incident come Christmas time. By the time they disconnected, he was smiling.

Hazel immediately offered her aid as well, and was far more reluctant to back off. Finally, they let her tell them that there was another, more private entrance Chicago. “That way you won’t have to deal with Charon or drive all the way to the main entrance.” She said, nervously.

Piper breathed out a sigh of relief at that: the van, while spacious wasn’t very gas-efficient and the bills were already racking up. “Where in Chicago?” She asked, watching as Hazel’s face shimmered in the mist.

“It’s on the Michigan Avenue Bridge.”

“Which is?”

“Somewhere in Chicago?” Hazel shrugged, blushing lightly, “I’m not really sure: I’ve never been there before.” Piper had to smile at her friend.

“Thanks, Hazel! We’ll bring him back to visit you when we get him, okay?” Hazel nodded, smiling widely. Jason was the one who waved the mist away.

As it turns out, there are a lot of bridges in Chicago. It took them a good day and a half to find Michigan Avenue Bridge, and parking had been one of the most trying events of their short lives. Even after all of that, they couldn’t find the entrance that Hazel talked about.

They played tourists for the better part of an hour before their ADHD brains took over and had them scanning the crowds for signs of trouble. They acted out the part of the incredibly adorable couple quite well as they surveyed the crowds. While Jason scanned the other tourists and businessmen, Piper was running her hands along the railing of the walkway. She frowned at the bumps and curves, trying to figure out why they seemed so familiar. “εγκαταλείψει κάθε ελπίδα εσείς που εισέρχονται εδώ.” She muttered under her breath. Jason looked over at her with a cocked eyebrow, as if asking for a translation. She gave him a small smile. She forgot that not all demigods were programed to read Greek. “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” She translated. “I think that this is the entrance… but there’s no door anywhere.” It was true: they were in the middle of the walkway, overlooking the river. There was no wall or door in sight. Jason bit his bottom lip. His fingers sparked with energy.

“I don’t think that it’s going to be that sort of entrance. I think we may have to get our feet wet.” He muttered, looking down at the swirling water. Piper had to think about what he meant. She groaned.

“You have got to be kidding me.”

“It’s the entrance to the Land of the Dead. It has to have at least some sort of ironic morbidity.” Jason reasoned.

“We should have brought Percy.” Piper groaned, “What if we drown?” 

“We will get to where we want to go?” Jason shrugged, just as there was a harsh cry of, “Kill the half-bloods!” Both of the teens’ hands immediately went to their weapons. They crouched into defensive positions. They couldn’t tell where the shout had come from: there were too many people pushing by them in both directions.

No one looked like monsters yet. No one had transformed. Jason looked down at his girlfriend with confused eyes. “What do we do now?” He whispered, not taking his eyes off the crowd. 

“The only thing we can.” Piper said matter-of-factly. She grabbed Jason’s hand and pulled him toward the fence. “Fancy a swim?” She asked, deciding that someone had to play Leo’s part in what would be a stressful situation.

“We don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Jason sighed before climbing over the railing. He offered Piper his hand, which she took gracefully as she hopped over the metal barrier. An old lady who had been walking her small Pomeranian screamed and pointed at them. The crowd was growing thicker and some of the bystanders had the faces of creatures of the night, with pointed teeth and yellowy eyes that reminded Jason far too much of fire. “Ready?” He asked.

“Nico better have spare clothes.” Piper growled. Jason wanted to tell her not to count on it, but didn’t have time to do so. With a squeeze of his fingers, Piper jumped forward and then they were both falling.

The water was freezing. It was icy cold, and then it wasn’t there at all. Then the girl and boy crashed onto the floor of the Underworld in a graceless heap. For the next few minutes, Piper was busy spitting out a mouthful of dirt while Jason tried to clear the stars out of his vision.

“Where are we?” The Greek demigod whispered. Jason looked around and was surprised to see that they were on the outskirts of an exotic garden, filled with both trees and flowers. Vines crawled along the ground, twisting around the statuary. Flowers that were big as Jason’s head bloomed all around so there were random splashes of color in a place that was normally cloaked with darkness. The fruits that hung down from the trees looked plump and ripe. They made Jason’s mouth water, but he shook his head. He remembered Hazel’s words about the pomegranates.

The son of Jupiter rose to his feet, blinking rapidly in an attempt to clear his swirling head. He reached a hand down for Piper to take. Once again, she did so immediately. When she stood, she leaned into his side. He placed a small kiss to her forehead. She sighed and smiled up at him.

They both looked up when they heard someone coming. It was a woman, draped in a light green cloak trimmed with gold. Her toga was made of cream colored silk. She didn’t seem to notice them, for she was too focused on her plants. The vegetation seemed to long for her touch: when she passed by, the flowers turned with her in order to watch her go by. The few leaves that she touched seemed greener and more vibrant than before. “Proserpina,” Jason whispered, for it was quite clear that such a woman had to be a goddess. It was easy to see what Pluto had seen in her.

At his words, the goddess looked up and frowned at them. She held herself in a non-threatening manner, but she took a step closer to the shadows of one of the trees. The plants trembled with a phantom wind. Jason wondered just how easily she could kill them if she wanted to. “Who are you?” She asked, her voice clear and regal.

Piper was the first one to move. She stepped forward and bowed, “My name is Piper McLean and this is my partner, Jason Grace.”

Persephone raised an eyebrow, “As in the son of Zeus?”

“Jupiter, milady, but yes.” Jason finally managed to find his tongue.

“Why would a son of my father come down here to my husband’s realm?”

“We are looking for Nico, milady.” Again, Persephone looked intrigued at Jason’s words.

“Why are you looking for—never mind, never mind, just do me a favor and get him out of here for a while.”

“Huh?” Both of the demigods looked at the woman, totally confused by her words.

Persephone shook her head and rolled her eyes, “He is becoming more negative and critical than my mother, and while I do actually love my husband, I do not need a younger version of him to deal with.”

“I thought that Nico tried to avoid you.” Jason asked, confused.

Persephone smiled down at him. It was a little bit bitter and somewhat humbled. She shook her head, “He tries, but this palace is truly far too small to hide from someone for too long.”

“Does he want to leave?” Piper asked. The question made Persephone think for a minute.

“Probably.” She finally said, “Though I can never tell what that boy is thinking. He’s always stuck inside of his own head. Follow me, let’s go find him.” Jason and Piper shared a glance before they followed after the goddess. She led them through more of her garden, and then through a set of gates. Outside of the gates was what looked to be training grounds, filled with skeleton soldiers and ghosts of many shapes and forms. Persephone cleared her throat, causing one of the ghosts, a young man dressed in Greek armor, to turn around. “Patroclus, where is my step-son?”

The ghost thought for a moment, simmering with slight movement, but then shook his head. “I am not sure, milady. He left here after we finished today’s training; he seemed to be in quite a hurry.”

“He said something about stubborn fools who didn’t know what was good for them,” Another transparent specter added. He looked over at the two teenagers, “He was probably talking about them.”

Persephone frowned, obviously not liking that answer. “Do you have any idea as to where—”

“What are you doing here?” All of them spun around to face an annoyed Nico di Angelo. He was slightly less scrawny than he had been before, but he was still just as pale. His hair had grown out just enough so that he could put it into a little messy ponytail. He was breathing heavily, as if he had just been running. There was a resigned look in his eyes, though there was also a great deal of confusion. They were just as raw and hard as before and there were still dark bags around them. It was clear that he hadn’t been sleeping. “And why are you soaking wet?”

“We took the Michigan Avenue Bridge Entrance.” Jason said, still slightly dazed from the fall. He shook his head; much like a canine would do, splattering the ground and Nico with water. The son of Hades jumped back slightly, not appreciating the impromptu shower.

“What are you doing here?” 

“They are here to take you away for a while.” Persephone said, pushing the boy toward the other two demigods. Nico stumbled forward a few steps before turning back to glare at his step-mother.

“I can’t leave, I promised Father that I would trai—”

“Patroclus can handle it.” The ghost sputtered at his matriarch’s words.

“A-Actually, I was more of a healer in my time, if you want a true warrior you should talk to Achilles.” The glare that he got from the Queen of the Underworld was enough to chill the air around them all. “I-I mean—” The spirit, looked helplessly from Nico to his step-mother. “I can manage.” He finally said, bowing his head. Nico looked furious. Persephone, on the other hand, looked incredibly pleased with herself. A small tremor ran through the earth.

“Can you not bully my subordinates?” Nico growled, another quake shooting out from beneath his feet. Persephone ignored him. Jason winced.

“Then it is settled! Nico, go with your friends and take a week off.”

“Father won’t—”

“I will deal with your father. Now go, before he realizes that there is yet another child of one of his brothers in his realm.” That statement made Nico snap his mouth closed. He stared at the two other demigods with a mixture of apprehension and vexation. If Jason looked closer, he thought that he could see a faint shadow of gratitude hidden beneath it all.

Patroclus tilted his head toward his commander. “I will find Achilles; he will be able to help me.”

Nico sighed, “Get him and get Pausanias. They should be able to work together well enough. Whatever you do, don’t let Hector help. We don’t need another Trojan War on our hands.” The ghost nodded and then disappeared. He turned back to the daughter of Aphrodite and the son of Zeus. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

 

It took them less than thirty minutes to get back up to the surface world, and that was without Nico shadow-travelling them (Piper asked him to, but he outright refused the idea). In one hour, they were back on the road.

“Why did you come?” Nico asked as he crawled into the backseat.

“You left without even saying goodbye.” Jason said, getting into the passanger’s seat. Nico rolled his eyes.

“Goodbye Jason, now can I go back?”

“Your step-mom said to take a week off, and before we do anything, we are going to a carwash so you can IM your sister.”

“Is Hazel alright?” There was a worried sharpness in Nico’s tone that made Jason smile softly.

“She’s bent out of joint that you didn’t tell her that you were leaving. So is Reyna, even though she wasn’t as vocal about it. You should talk to her too.” Jason said. They were all quiet. Jason thought that Nico would put up a bit more of a fight about coming. He glanced over at Piper who shrugged. Apparently, she had been thinking the same thing.

“So, where are we going after we go to the carwash?” Nico asked from the back seat, where he was laying down, using his jacket as a pillow.

“Where do you want to go?” Jason responded. The son of Hades opened his eyes and glared at the two.

“You mean you don’t have a plan?”

“We are the children of gods: we don’t have the attention span to make plans unless our name is Annabeth Chase. All that we set off to do was to come and get you.” Piper said. Nico glared at her. While he was calmer around Jason, the blonde’s girlfriend put him off.

“Why did you come?”

“I was the one who jumpstarted this mission, Death-Breath.” Piper said, tilting her head back at him so that he could see that she wasn’t amused by his cold tone.

“Huh?”

“She stole the van.” Jason clarified. Nico’s eyes widened with interest in spite of himself.

“Really now?” Piper preened at the grudging appreciation in Nico’s tone.

“Yep, it wasn’t even that hard. I can see how the Stolls do it as much as they do.”

“Interesting.” There was something dangerous in the glint of Nico’s eyes. Jason decided that it would probably be in their best interest to divert the conversation.

“So, where do you want to go?” He asked again. Both Nico and Piper startled.

“Mount Vernon.” Was Nico’s answer.

“Key West.” Was Piper’s.

“We’ll be hard pressed to get to both of those places in a week. Pick again.” Jason pointed out. Nico glared at Piper.

“Freedom Trail, Boston.” Nico.

“Disney World.” Piper.

Jason had to laugh. “Again?” He asked.

“Smithsonian.” Nico said.

“Native American History Museum.” Piper responded.

“That is a thing?” Nico asked, looking confused.

“It’s a part of the Smithsonian.” Jason clarified.

“They have more than one?”

“They have nineteen.” Piper said, smiling ever so slightly. Nico shifted in his seat.

As they began their trek to the nearest John’s Car Wash, Piper kept sneaking glances at the teen who was curled up in the backseat. He was definitely still too thin. Nico kept himself hunched into a small ball, with his head resting against the window. He never blinked and didn’t move. He didn’t seem to be looking out at the landscapes passing by. He didn’t seem to be watching anything. His eyes were simultaneously too sharp and too glazed over and they were eerily familiar. After about six minute, Piper finally realized where she had seen that expression before.

Nico had the eyes of a god: he had seen too much of this world of theirs to still find it in himself to call it just. It wasn’t fair in his eyes, but it was beautiful. Beautiful and cruel. He had the gaze of an observer who watched a thousand years go by, but he didn’t look a day older than fifteen. Piper didn’t know what to say to a boy like that.

 

The silence finally grew too much for any of them to bear about three hours later. In an attempt to remedy it, Piper turned on the radio. That seemed to jerk Nico to attention. He frowned at the speakers as they pounded out the lyrics to pop songs. He stayed quiet until Miley Cyrus started playing. That was when he unbuckled his seatbelt, leaned across the divider, and began to fiddle with the controls. Piper let out a huff of a laugh.

“You could have just asked me to change it.”

Nico looked back at her, “You were the one who picked this station. I don’t trust your music judgment.”

“Rude,” Piper said, flicking the boy on his forehead. Nico recoiled with a sneer.

“Don’t touch me!” He spat, looking far too similar to a caged animal readying to strike for comfort. Piper jumped in her seat, not expecting such a violent reaction. She raised her hands.

“Sorry.” She whispered. Nico didn’t say anything to either her or Jason for the rest of the day, but when night fall came and she finally let herself think about it, she thought that he might have just been trying to make it easier for the both of them. After all, it’s normally very hard to describe something about yourself to someone who doesn’t really know you and it’s even harder for them to actually understand.

Night fall came quickly, clouds came faster, and there was fog. When Piper pulled into a deserted Denny’s parking lot, there was a soft pitter-pat of rain on the roof. They ran into the diner, trying to outrun the little droplets of water that pelted down on them from the sky. Nico was not amused.

“You are the son of Jupiter. Make it stop.” He whispered as he brushed the liquid off his jacket sleeves. When the waiter came by with menus, he handed her back his. Jason sighed.

“Too much effort. I’d have to move the whole storm.”

Nico snorted, “You summoned a hurricane in the fight with Gaea.”

“And then he slept for a good three days. Trust me: I tried to wake him up.” Piper sighed. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

“Not hungry.” Nico said, brushing her off with a hunch of his shoulders.

“When was the last time that you ate?” There was a demanding note in Jason’s voice. Nico didn’t respond, he just crossed his arms and looked intimidating. It was enough to make Piper be quiet and to freak out the waiter, but it didn’t seem to have an effect on Jason. All that he did when he got his pancakes was ask for another plate. When he got it, he placed one of the flapjacks on it before putting it in front of the son of Hades. “Eat, please.” He demanded. Nico’s scowl turned into a death glare, but after a minute he began to hesitantly pick at the food.

 

They slept in a hotel at Nico’s demand. He had refused to sleep in the van and had promised to pay for the room. So, they got a double room at a motel. In the middle of the night, Piper woke up at the sound of a door closing. She blinked a few times, concerned, but the room was dark and there were no sounds of movement. Suddenly, there was a light coming from underneath the bathroom door. Piper frowned and pushed herself up. Looking across Jason’s still form, she saw that Nico’s bed was empty. After close to ten minutes, Piper got to her feet and walked over to the door of the other room. She knocked lightly, trying not to wake Jason up. The door opened at her touch.

The light harsh and fluorescent. Piper blinked a good three times before they adjusted. “Nico?” The boy was hunched over the toilet, clutching at the porcelain rim. He was shaking and looking at her with those terrifying eyes of his. He was ashen and sweating. Piper immediately rushed to his side. “What happened? Are you sick? Nico?”

“D-Don’t touch me.” The hitch in his voice was soft but definitely noticeable. Piper immediately got to her knees beside him as he started swaying. There were tear tracks running down his face. Slowly, his hands moved from the toilet rim to clutch at his head. His fingernails were long and dug into the skin of his temples as he began to breathe in and out shakily. It was then that Piper realized that the skin around his hairline was discolored, bruised, and even frayed in places. This hadn’t been the first time this sort of thing had happened. 

“T-This was why you didn’t want to eat.” Nico didn’t even seem to acknowledge her presence; he just continued to stare into oblivion with his dull eyes. His knuckles were turning white. Piper reached out a hand, but immediately withdrew it. “Do you want for me to get Jason?” Nico was more comfortable with Jason. He would be better equipped to deal with this sort of thing.

Those words got a reaction. “No,” Nico choked out, immediately wrapping a hand around the girl’s wrist. “Don’t. Don’t tell Jason. Please.” Piper opened and closed her mouth. Nico’s touch was as cold and sent goose bumps skating up her arm. Even so, it was remarkably human. She could feel his pulse beat strongly underneath his skin.

“Okay.” She said, “I won’t say anything.” For just a second, Nico’s eyes lightened. He immediately released her and seemed to be expecting her to leave. Before she did, however, she got one of the plastic cups from coffee table in the other room and filled it water. She placed the cup on the tiled floor beside Nico’s right knee.

In the morning, it was as if nothing had happened. Piper barely noticed that there was a cup of warm coffee waiting for her on her bedside table when she woke up.

There was a bit of a traffic jam on I-64, due to a bit of a mishap with a dragon that the three demigods promised to never tell Leo about. Ever. Other than that, the only monsters that they had to face were traffic congestion, boredom, and bad music. When they were in Alexandria, they realized that Nico had failed to bring any sort of extra clothes, so they stopped by a Walmart. By the time they came out of the supermarket, they were not only carrying (All black, what else is new?) clothes, but were also armed with food, blankets, and sunscreen (which was mainly for Nico, because the boy was as pale as a ghost). Nico had surprised them all by paying for the supplies. “Your dad’s?” Jason asked, pointing to the black plastic card. It was simply designed with a red lotus flower on one side.

Nico shook his head, “No. Lotus Casino. Do idea how it works, but it hasn’t failed me yet.” He ignored both the cashier’s and the other demigods’ looks of bewilderment at that statement. He grabbed two of the bags and made a beeline for the door. The other two had little choice but to follow him. The employee waited until they were out the door, then frantically asked her friend what the age requirements were to get into a casino, because that boy could not have been older than fifteen.

 

The Smithsonian Museum of American History was packed to the brim with tour groups, tourists, and little children on play dates. Nico didn’t seem to care. He ignored every single living person and nearly ran into one of the hallways. He looked at all of the pieces on display with the intensity of a five year old child opening their birthday presents.

Three hours later and they had moved on into the 1920’s portion of the exhibit and Nico had not lost any of his interest. Jason smiled and watched the other teenager from a bench that he was sharing with an exasperated mother who was listening to music. Piper had gone to find the bathroom. When Nico came closer to examine one of the exhibits beside Jason he let out a low breath that was as close to a whistle as Jason assumed he could get.

“I take it that you like history.” The blonde observed. Nico frowned at him.

“So what if I do?” He asked, already growing defensive. Jason just shook his head.

“Nothing. It’s just good that you have something that interests you.”

“I’m the son of Hades, of course I’m interested in dead people.”

“Or maybe it’s just because you like it. You don’t have to let who you are related to define you.”

“Easy for you to say, you’re not the one who is considered a creepy outcast by every demigod that you meet.”

“I don’t think that you are creepy or an outcast.”

“You, Jason Grace, are confused.” Nico said. There was a slight tilt to his voice that implied something akin to amusement. His face, however, remained neutral.

“Piper doesn’t either, you know.” Jason decided not to mention the whole ‘depressed and emotionally unstable thing’, but knew that what he was saying was more than 75 percent true.

“Then your confusion is a disease and has made its way into her brain. Besides, she doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know about—” Here, he cut himself and looked down at his hands. His lips pulled upward into a sneer. Jason wished that he hadn’t mentioned anything.

“She wouldn’t care.” He said, trying to keep his voice calm and reassuring. Nico looked up to glare at him.

“How do you know?”

“Because we’ve talked about politics.” At that word, Nico’s face scrunched up into a scowl yet again at the last word. “Something tells me you don’t like that either.”

“I grew up in Fascist Italy, raised by a single mother who was the mistress of a very wealthy man, fought for women’s rights, was more than slightly socialist, and was proud of all her accomplishments. No, I don’t like most governmental institutions.”

“That’s a reasonable justification.” Jason said after a minute. Nico just stared at him with those dark eyes that seemed to bore straight into his soul.

“There normally is one for most things.” The boy sighed before turning back to the display case. Jason only dared to look at what was in it once the Ghost King’s attention was focused upon some of the clothing of the time.

All that it was a few torn and frayed cards and semi-bent figurines. The small print on the information card said, “Toys From During War: Mythomagic Cards, October 20, 1932.” Jason frowned thoughtfully. His blue eyes shined.

 

By the time that they managed to drag Nico out of the Cold War section, it was close to two in the afternoon and Piper had already scoped out the area of the cafeteria. Nico took one look at the choices and turned up his nose. Jason scowled after the son of Hades as he went to go and find them all seats. Piper snickered at his annoyance and bumped into his side.

“Penny for your thoughts?” She asked, holding up a drachma. Jason rolled his eyes and grabbed for the coin. Piper slithered out his reach. She was smiling and her eyes were glinting. She ran off towards the pizza stand. Jason just watched her for a minute as she stepped out of the way every oncoming child, parent, and student. He laughed, shaking his head as he took off after her. He ended up getting Nico a slice of ridiculously overpriced pizza, which he glared at them for, but ate a few bites of. Nico ignored Piper’s barely veiled looks of concern.

After they finished eating, Jason disappeared for a short time. Nico went back to the main floor to look at the rest of the Cold War exhibit. Piper, not having anything else better to do, followed him. She examined each of the plaques, taking her time to decipher what each of them meant. She didn’t notice Nico watching her out of the corner of his eye until he spoke up.

“It’s all a big jumbled mess really.”

Piper jumped at the boy’s words, not expecting him to initiate a conversation. “Huh?” She asked. Nico hunched over as if expecting her to get angry with him. He tilted his head to the description that she had been reading. It was on the Bay of Pigs Invasion. “What do you mean?”

“The Cold War was neither cold, nor a war. It was just two countries pointing bombs at each other and the rest of the world holding their breath and praying that the two wouldn’t do something that they would all regret. It was all a stupid, jumbled mess. Not to mention the fact that so many people caught in the perpetual crossfire.” Nico shook his head, his expression dark and confused. “I don’t understand the need for war.”

Piper sighed, understanding where he was coming from. After all, all of them, Roman and Greeks alike, were sick of war and death. “I don’t think any of us do.” She said, moving closer to the younger man. For the first time Nico looked over at her, and something in his posture relaxed. For a minute, he actually looked like a normal kid his age.

The trio had to pull into an abandoned parking lot somewhere in Virginia around 2 a.m. because Piper, the only one of them that could drive, was falling asleep on the road. They pulled straws to figure out who would sleep where. Jason got the middle row of seat, Piper got the far back, and Nico was stuck with the passenger seat. While the boy didn’t seem too happy about this arrangement, he didn’t say anything about it. He just curled up into a ball and closed his eyes.

After about ten minutes, when it was clear that he was asleep, Jason stirred. Slowly and quietly, he placed a plastic bag on the seat by the Ghost King’s feet. Nico stirred at the crinkling sounds, but didn’t wake up. Piper watched as Jason’s face softened, as his eyes crinkled around the edges and a small smile spread across his lips. There was something in the look on her boyfriend’s face that made Piper start to think. She had seen that gaze in his eyes before when he watched over Nico back when they were all on the Argo II. She just couldn’t place her finger on exactly what it was.

That morning, when Nico found the small parcel and opened it, he found six replicas of vintage Mythomagic Cards. The small upturn of his lips that accompanied the shake of his head made every second of the hours spent in the museum worth it for Jason.

 

They were halfway through North Carolina, on their way to a small offshoot of Myrtle Beach, when Piper finally understood what ‘it’ had been. The moment that she did, she wanted to slap herself over the head for being so obtuse. It was the middle of the night and she had been sleeping in the passenger’s seat of the van. She was awoken by a soft whimpering. Jason’s driver’s seat was empty. She shifted around to look back. She had to bit her lip in order to not say anything, for there was Nico di Angelo, clutching at her boyfriend as though he was a lifeline. The son of Hades had curled himself up into a ball between Jason’s legs and had taken fist-fulls of the blonde’s dark purple shirt.

He was trembling in the effort to keep himself quiet. He wasn’t breathing, or at least, the breaths that he managed to force out were closer to sobs than anything else. His eyes were glazed over and staring off into the shadows of the night. Piper said nothing, nor did she do anything. She just stayed awake and watched on for close to an hour as Nico slowly began to calm down. She watched on as Jason rubbed careful circles into the back of the Italian’s neck. She looked on as each muscle was released from its tense position, as Nico rested his forehead on Jason’s collarbone, and as his eyelids drifted close.

Blue eyes met hers and for a minute Piper felt like she was encroaching upon something. After a few seconds, Jason’s eyes softened and he pressed a finger to his lips. She mirrored the gesture and just watched on. She took in the way that Jason handled the other teen, as if he was something delicate… as if he was something valuable. She thought that he only touched her that way. Then it hit her with the impact of a freight train because, oh, oh…

After thirty minutes or so ticked by, Nico’s breathing had slowed down and leveled out enough to signify that he had fallen back into Hypnos’s realm. Piper finally let herself speak up.

“Talk to me.” She whispered quietly.

“What is there to say?” What indeed. There wasn’t all that much to say. It all depended on if Jason was able to say the few necessary words.

“What happened?”

“Apparently he has night terrors.” Piper remembered that the boy had faced the Tartarus alone, and had been trapped in a jar, waiting to die, for three days. She winced and sympathy for the other teen flooded through her veins. “He didn’t want to wake you up.”

“Oh,” That was surprisingly kind of him. Either that or he didn’t want for anyone to think that he was weak. It was probably a mixture of both. “Did he wake you up?”

“No, I woke up on my own.”

“And he just let you—” Piper gestured from Jason to Nico and then back again. Jason sighed.

“Can we talk about this in the morning?” There was a desperate tint to Jason’s words. Piper didn’t want to have to wait until the morning. She was dealing with uncharted territory here and wasn’t sure how to go about exploring it with her mind. Even so, she nodded. The gratitude and relief in Jason’s eyes almost made it worth her discomfort.

“In the morning.” She repeated, reaching her hand out for her boyfriend. Jason didn’t hesitate. He took the smaller hand in his own and pressed a soft kiss to each of her fingers. That made Piper smile. “In the morning…” She whispered again. They went asleep holding hands.

Their breakfast was the usual, a large shared shake from one of the near-by fast-food restaurants. Nico was still fast asleep in the van: he didn’t like waking up before ten and would sleep like the dead until noon if he could. Piper and Jason had taken vigil in one of the booth that faced the vehicle from behind a sheet of glass. “Let’s talk about this.” Piper said softly, taking a sip of the chocolate dessert.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“Jace, I am the daughter of the love goddess, I can sense romantic attraction. I noticed that something was off when you came back from Rome, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was. It’s only gotten stronger since. I just managed to figure it out last night.” She smiled at those last words. She passed the drink to him.

Jason went quiet for some time, biting at the plastic straw while he attempted to formulate an answer. He drummed his fingers on the plastic countertop. Finally, he put his drink down and looked across the table at his girlfriend, who was waiting with surprising patience. “I love you.” He finally said, and was confused and more than slightly hurt when he saw the more than slightly shocked look pass over Piper’s face. The girl quickly schooled the expression.

“I love you too, but that doesn’t answer any of my questions.”

“I want for him to have someone to rely on so he won’t have to run away every time he feels vulnerable.”

“You want to be that person?”

“A part of me does.”

“What does the other part of you want?”

“For you not to leave me.”

Piper let out a small laugh, “Well then, you are definitely a son of Jupiter.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You want to protect everything that you love and keep it close to your side. I like that about you. Nico might not.” A look of confusion came over Jason’s face at those words. “I’m willing to share you if you can manage to convince Nico. We’ll be the Greekiest demigods to ever walk modern times.” Piper sighed, the small smile toying at her lips again while her fingers ran over one of the many braids in her hair. “So long as you’ll remember that I’m by your side.”

“I’d never let myself forget you.” Jason whispered before he kissed her.

 

They came to the beach tired and worn out. They ended the second day with varying tan-lines, ice-cream cones, and sand in between their toes. Nico surprised both Jason and Piper by smiling when Jason’s scoop of Cherry Garcia took a nose dive onto the hot pavement. Jason retaliated by smearing some of Piper’s ice-cream onto the Italian’s nose. Nico flinched back at the touch, but a small smirk remained on his lips. 

They had hit the one of the tourist stores on the way in, getting the necessary supplies. While Nico had refused to get a swimsuit, he did trade in his old converse for a pair of black Roman sandals. The moment Piper and Jason managed to drag the son of Hades onto the beach; he flopped down in the lone shady spot and promptly started snoozing.

Piper wiggled her nose and got out the plastic buckets and shovels. She tossed one to her boyfriend and they went to work. By the time that Nico came back into the land of the living, he had been transformed into a mermaid, complete with a sand tail and Jason’s sun glasses. He blinked twice and upon hearing the click of Piper’s disposable camera took after the daughter of Aphrodite with the ferocity of hellhound. The head of the Aphrodite Cabin just laughed and held the device in the air.

For a minute, Nico stopped struggling. He just took a step back and stared blankly at the ground behind Piper’s tan feet. That was when the sand started moving up the girl’s legs. By the time Piper noticed, she couldn’t move her feet.

“Nico. What are you doing?”

“Give me the camera.”

“What are you—” She looked closely at the designs that were beginning to form on the earth on top of her toes. She knew those symbols. Those were Egyptian Hieroglyphs. “A sarcophagus, really?”

Nico shrugged, “Death’s got a sense of humor. Now give me the camera.” The sand was now up to Piper’s knees.

“Jason! Control your friend!” Piper laughed, struggling both to get out of the trap and to keep the camera out of Nico’s reach. Jason just sat on the ground watching with a smile.

“You were the one who got the camera. This is your fight.” The son of Jupiter said, resting his head on his hand. Nico looked back at the blond at those words. Jason grinned at him. Perhaps it was just sunburn, but for that second, Nico’s cheeks seemed to get redder and he lost control of the sand. Piper jumped out of half-finished sculpture with a whoop.

Nico knew the flutter that his heart had just performed all too well. He had dreaded the feeling of his knees going weak and his throat constricting when he had watched Percy love Annabeth. He wanted to run. He needed to leave. To get away before it got worse and was too late to turn back. He, however, just remained where he was, trying to keep his breathing calm, thanking each and every god that Jason’s attention was focused on his girlfriend. Girlfriend. Nico took in a shaky breath. There was no way that he would let himself go through what he had with Percy again.

The one amazing thing about camping out on a beach that no one went to was the fact that, by midnight or so, the world seemed to be absolutely quiet and the stars were out. They shined like little shards of glass that were desperately trying to catch the lights of the moonbeams. They were beautiful. Nico barely spared a glance at them as he ran to where the van was parked. The doors were locked, which seemed odd, as they hadn’t been at dinner—

“Looking for these?” Nico spun around reaching for his sword, only to find out that it wasn’t there, because, of course, it was in the back of the van. He crouched into a defensive position as his eyes took in Piper’s form. There was a smile on her face, but it was not happy nor was it kind. It was furious. “You supposed to be asleep.” He said, panic already welling up in his throat.

“As were you. Looking for these?” The street light reflected off the metal keys as they clicked together. Nico reached for them. Piper’s grin turned savage and she stepped back. Nico wasn’t in the mood for games. He opened a portal. “Don’t you dare.” Charm-speak leaked into Piper’s voice and her eyes were as hard as Nico’s normally were. Nico legs were frozen where he stood and with an unconscious wave of his hand, the portal disappeared.

They stood there in silence for a good two minutes before Nico summoned the courage to speak again. “Why are you doing this?” He growled, his voice much harder than how he felt.

“I should be asking you that question!”

“It’s been over a week. I need to g—”

“Don’t even start with that! If you wanted to leave at a week you would have and we wouldn’t have stopped you!”

“Then why are you stopping me now?!” Nico snarled, finally growing angry.

“Why?! Because you are running in the middle of the night without even telling us goodbye, or giving us a reason! That’s why! It’s not fair to Jason, Nico!”

At the blonde’s name, the noirette flinched. All the anger that had been building up flowed out of him. Suddenly, standing in the son of Hades’ place was a fifteen year old kid who was far too skinny, far too pale, and was digging his finger nails into the flesh of his palms to keep himself quiet and in check. He couldn’t bring himself to meet the girl’s eyes. “You aren’t going to want me here for much longer.” He whispered, his voice devoid of emotions. He stared down at his feet.

Piper blinked, not sure how to handle this sudden change. She bit at her upper lip and sighed deeply. “Why don’t you let us be the judge of that?”

“You won’t.” Nico’s voice was soft, resigned, and sure of himself. “I’m doing you a favor.”

“Will you tell me what this is all about at least?” Nico scowled across the parking lot, past the sand dunes, to where the tide was coming in.

He shook his head. “I need to leave.”

“You don’t want to.” Nico finally looked up to glare at the daughter of Aphrodite. “Don’t give me that look; I know that I’m right. If you wanted to, you could have just shadowed into the van, gotten your stuff, and left. Instead, you went about it the hard way, as if you were trying to get someone to stop you.”

“Don’t act like you know me.”

Piper huffed and tugged on one of her braids, trying to ignore the fact that her hair was oily and bristly due to the salt water, “Fine. I’m not going to argue with you about something like that. I don’t know you, but I know your type well enough. You try to act cold and show people that you are aloof, while in reality you are just as desperate for attention as the rest of us. Myself included.

“You aren’t—”

“Don’t act like you know me.” The girl said, mirroring the boy’s exact words. “You’ve been too busy trying to sort out your own head to figure mine out. Or Jason’s for that matter.” Again, the boy flinched at the son of Jupiter’s name. While Piper hadn’t noticed it the first time, she definitely had then. She frowned and thought for a minute. She took in the way that there was an immeasurable panic clinging to Nico and coming off him in waves. She took the way that his hands slotted together, with interlocking fingers, as if he were trying to cage something in the crevice between his palms to hide it away, to protect it. It must be something fragile, something pure and beautiful, for Nico try to conceal it so. Then, suddenly, it clicked. “Oh,” She breathed, feeling as though she had just been punched in the gut. She knew what he was feeling. She felt it every minute, of every hour, of every day. “Oh,” Well, that made things easier.

Nico, however, took her speechlessness for disgust. He takes a step back, his arms rising unconsciously into a defensive position. His lips were moving quickly, almost trembling, but no words came out. Shadows begin to curl around his legs, protective of their master. He was about to try to run again, Piper realized.

This time she didn’t think of charm-speaking him, she didn’t think about past confrontations or things that she had learned. She just reached out and grabbed his wrist, much like he had nine nights before. “Don’t!” she said, her voice far too close to pleading for her own liking. This could be so easy if she just did it right. “Don’t, please, just… wait.” Nico’s arm was tensed underneath her fingers but he made no move to get away. Piper sighed and thought for a minute, “Let’s go for a walk.”

The moon was large and bright. Its light danced upon the waves as Piper pulled her jeans up to her knees. Nico copied her every motion. After about one hundred yards with the only noises being the crash of waves and seagulls, Piper began to speak. “I don’t care that you like Jason. Truth be told, I’m happy about it.” Nico stopped short, staring at her with an uncomprehending expression. She smiled at him. “You like history, do you like reading?” When Nico nodded, she continued, “Have you read any of the Greek classics?”

“Read them? I’ve talked most of the people that they were written about.” Nico’s attempt at humor was weak and shaky, but it let Piper know that he was trying.

She nodded thoughtfully, “So you know about Patroclus, Achilles, and Briseis.”

Nico frowned at her, “Patroclus and Achilles were battle partners. Briseis was given to Achilles as a spoil of war, though he thought of her as a wife and the feeling was reciprocated.”

Piper wiggled her nose and kicked at one of the waves, splashing water on the both of them. Nico jumped and frowned at her, but she said nothing. “Did you know that Achilles and Patroclus were also lovers and that Briseis loved them both?”

Nico stopped where he stood, “What?”

“They were all together. Trust me, that’s one of the relationships that my mother will not stop talking about when she comes to visit my cabin.”

“Neither of them said anything of the sort to me.”

“Did you ask?”

“No. Asking something of the sort isn’t… proper.” Piper had to stifle a giggle at that last word. Nico glared at her, red in the cheeks. “What?! It’s true!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just that you are the last person that I thought would give a flying fuck about propriety.” She watched as Nico scrunched up his shoulders at the curse word. Piper let out another laugh. “You actually are old-fashioned! I thought that Hazel was lying!”

“Shut up! I was born in the 20’s!” Nico snapped, trying to save whatever remained of his dignity. Slowly, Piper forced herself to stop giggling. She looked up at the stars.

“But as I was saying, I really don’t mind that you like Jason. I don’t see how anyone couldn’t like him.” She watched out of the corner of her eye as Nico relaxed slightly. Good. That was good. “You should let him know though.” Nico tensed up again.

“No.”

“Please?”

“No.” Nico spat out the word as if it were foul tasting. Piper clasped her hands behind her back.

“Why?”

Nico turned to look at the girl. His eyes were sharp and vivid and so alive that it hurt to look at them too closely. “Why? Why?! Think of what you are asking, Piper! You are asking me to go up to one of the few people who actually views me as a human being, bare my soul to him, and watch with a blank face as he turns me away!”

“What if he didn’t?” She asked, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. She was laying it on too thickly, but she couldn’t help it. She just wanted them all to be happy, something that Nico was making very difficult.

“That’s not possible. No one would ever want someone like me.” Nico said those words with such certainty that Piper bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything else. She wanted to say that he was wrong. She wanted to prove him wrong. But there was no way to do so without pushing him into a corner, and the last thing that she wanted to do was force him into anything. She just looked at the son of Hades with sad eyes, “Please don’t leave. Please.” She whispered, not caring that she was begging him. With that, she turned back around, and started to head back to camp.

She settled down on the blankets beside a still dreaming Jason, and buried her head in his chest. One of his arms unconsciously came around her shoulder loosely. As she closed her eyes, she wondered why Nico’s rejection of her idea had upset her so much. “Best not think of it too much.” She whispered.

There was the crunching of wet sand to Piper’s right and after a few seconds’ she saw a pair of pale, sandaled feet. Piper looked up at him, but the shadows of his bangs obscured his face. Nico just stood there for a minute, before sighing and sitting down on one of the felt corners. With trembling fingers, he took off his sandals. Piper smiled and closed her eyes. She let her hand brush against the boy’s wrist.

“Wonder where we will go next?” She yawned.

“No idea.”

“I think you’re human.” She whispered. Nico didn’t respond, so she closed her eyes.

“When are you going to tell him?” Piper asked Jason as they sat on the roof of the van. The blond teen sighed and looked into the woods, where Nico had disappeared not five minutes ago. The Ghost King had told them that he wanted to check in with Patroclus and had asked Piper to pull over onto the side of the road.

“Soon?” Jason said, knocking their shoulders together before kissing Piper’s temple. “The last thing that I want to do is make him feel corner.”

“Nico deserves a happy ending. Even if he thinks that he doesn’t.” Piper sighed, looking down at their intertwined hands.

Jason’s grin softened into a small smile, “Doesn’t he though.” He muttered into the wind.

“He doesn’t think that it’s possible for anyone to love him.” Piper was taken aback by the sadness in her tone when she said those words. Jason sighed.

“He said something like that in Rome.”

“What happened in Rome?” Piper asked, unable to keep herself from asking.

Jason opened his mouth, as if he was about to tell her, but then stopped himself. He tried again, only to stop before the words left his mouth. After that try, he shook his head. “He wouldn’t want for me to tell anyone.” Piper looked confused at those words, but nodded.

It was at that moment that Nico stormed out of the woods with a look of annoyed fury etched upon his features. The grass around his feet wilted with every step that he took. Jason’s mood immediately dampened and he jumped down from his perch to walk toward the son of Hades. “Nico? Are you alright? What happened?”

“My father, that’s what.” Nico snapped, increasingly looking like he wanted to punch something.

“What’s wrong?” Piper asked, looking down at the two boys from the roof.

“He wants for me to go back to L.A.”

“To the Underworld?” Piper asked.

“Oh no. He wants for me to kills some monsters that have been bothering the souls of the dead at the entrance. After helping him win two wars and recognition on Olympus, I’ve been demoted to a glorified garbage man because I took a week off!” Nico shouted these words at the ground and got a disgruntled rumble. “Accidenti, vecchio. Sapete che è vero! (Damn you, Old man. You know that it’s true!)” There was another, sharper tremor. “TI maledizione, se lo voglio! Hai rovinato la mia vacanza! (I’ll curse if I want to! You’ve ruined my holiday!)”

Jason had paled when the tremors had started and looked slightly sick by the time that Nico had finished yelling at the ground. He flew up to Piper and helped her down from where she was sitting. He remained floating when she got a firm hold on the car door. Even the trees were beginning to brown and lose their leaves at this point. “Nico, can you stop yelling at your dad? While you’re at it can you please make him stop shaking the world?” At the end of his sentence, Nico turned to him, his eyes glinting like a beetle’s wings.

“Why, Grace, are you scared?” There was a feral smirk on his face.

“You’re killing the wildlife and your dad’s threatening to start demolishing Raleigh with his cosmic activities, of course I’m scared!” That made Nico stop short. The Earth stilled completely, as well.

It was clear that the last statement had thrown Nico off. Piper could only assume that he was one of the people who put Jason on some sort of pedestal, who thought that the Roman demigod could never truly fear something because he was perfect in every way. There were far too many people who had that train of thought.

Jason ran a hand through his hair. “So, the entrance to Hades is in L.A., right?”

“Yes, I’ll just shadow travel there and—”

“Why don’t you let us come with you? It will go faster that way.” Jason pointed out. Piper was the only one to notice the slightly embarrassed flush of his cheeks.

Nico shook his head, “It’d take too long to get there.” There was a reluctant hitch in his voice, however.

“Could you shadow-travel us?” Piper spoke up.

It was Jason’s turn to look reluctant. “That’d use up a lot of his energy. Reyna said—”

“I could. I shadow traveled across China six times in one night once. I know my limits” Nico said, cutting the blond off. While his words were blunt, his tone was softer than normal. “It’s just, well, there are some issues with space…”

“What kind of issues?” Jason asked, still fretting about Nico’s health. Piper watched as the Italian licked at his lips and pondered how to explain himself. Finally, he simply sighed.

“Just go get your weapons and get ready for battle. Then I will show you.” Once they did so, Nico sighed and walked up to them both. There was a raging blush on his cheeks that spread all the way up his ears. He grabbed both of their wrists and dragged them closer to him, so that the contours of their bodies touched each other in a triangle-shape. They now understood that what Nico had meant about personal space was that in shadow-travel: there was none.

“Take a deep breath; I’m going to transport us.” Nico whispered, shadows congregating around his palm. The world around them went black.

 

The street of L.A. that they appeared in was all but deserted. That fact just made the demigods’ ADHD brains work three times faster to figure out exactly what was going on and what needed to be fought. Nico had teleported them into an alleyway filled with rubbish bins and empty beer bottles.

“What are we looking for?” Piper asked the son of Hades, who placed a finger onto his lips. He closed his eyes and listened. Jason and Piper had little other choice but to do the same. Suddenly, there were scratchy voices bickering and yowling at each other like cats fighting over territory.

“Where is she?! Where is she?!” The lamias hissed at each other, growing more and more desperate with each passing minute. Jason and Nico shared a look before moving forward. They had no idea what the monsters were talking about, but knew that it couldn’t be good. Piper stayed behind. She was concentrating on something else. The wind carried a foul smell and the sound of scales scraping upon the stone sidewalk toward her. It reeked of rotting meat and death. At first she had thought that it was just the snake-women to the left of her, but then they halted and the sound kept going.

“Jason,” She whispered, worried. “Jason, Nico, wait up.” Both boys turned back to look at her. “I think there is something else besides the lamia.”

“What do you—” Nico trailed off, looking up at the sky. There was no more sky. There was a long, dark, scaled tail where the dark clouds had been. It slid from one building to the next, making the structures grown underneath its weight.

All of the demigods froze where they stood, twin looks of shock and terror crossing their faces. “That would scare the ghosts.” Jason breathed.

“That’s a Baliskos.” There was an underlying panic in Nico’s voice. He took a deep breath in, before immediately covering his mouth. “Don’t breathe, either of you.”

“Don’t breathe?” Jason asked, growing panicked as well. He reached for his sword.

“The Baliskos’s breath is deadly, as is its touch. You shouldn’t have come. I shouldn’t have let you come.” Nico’s eyes were flickering with a manic gleam as he wrapped a hand around the hilt of his weapon.

“You didn’t know.” Piper soothed, immediately trying to think of a plan that wouldn’t end with them getting all killed. “Jason, could you divert the wind so that it’s going away from us?”

“That would draw attention toward us.” Nico argued.

“The lamias seem to be quite intent on finding whoever they are searching for, and we are going to have to draw the Baliskos’s attention if we want to kill it like your dad wants.” Jason muttered, getting into an offensive position. With a flick of his hand, the breeze shifted to the east, away from the trio. Thankfully, the monsters didn’t seem notice the change. Someone else, however, did.

There was a small gasp from behind one of the trashcans and hesitantly, a dark haired head looked out from behind a metal bins. It was a small girl with dark brown eyes and two missing front teeth. She was wearing a red knit cap and looked terrified. “W-Who are you?”

Piper was the first to take a step towards the child, but Nico was the first to get to her. His eyes were sharp and there was something broken in his expression. He immediately dropped to his knees in front of the little girl, who couldn’t have been but four or so. He hesitated twice before he managed to make himself speak. “My name is Nico and these people are Jason and Piper. W-Why are you out here?” Something was wrong. It was in the way that Nico held himself. It was in the way that he stuttered over the last few words, like he was trying too hard to mask his shock and was failing miserably.

“My name’s Bianca.” The girl said, coming out just a little further from her hiding place. Nico stopped her.

“J-Just wait there, we’ll come and get you when we get rid of the… creepy ladies.”

“And the monster? Mama didn’t believe me when I told her about the monsters.”

“And the monster. Don’t you fret. Everything will be alright.” There was a moment of hesitation before girl nodded at his words and went back to hiding. When Nico turned away from her, his gaze was hard and determined. It was clear then that he was either going to clear the area or go down trying. It was slightly terrifying. Jason had to wonder if this was what Nico acted like as his father’s lieutenant.

Both Jason and Piper went into attack positions. “Jason, summon up a storm and mist; that should keep the Baliskos busy for a time with searching for her. If you have enough energy left after that, stay back to defend Bianca. Piper, come with me to get rid of the lamia. We’ll fight them first. The Baliskos has poor hearing, so Jason, if you are able, can you start a thunderstorm? That way, we’ll be safe for a short time.”

Both of the other teens nodded and took off in other directions. Nico swung his sword out and walked calmly out of the alleyway. He radiated terror and cold determination. Piper unsheathed Zethes’s sword and followed after him. Jason took off into the air.

The Baliskos was even larger than Jason had thought. Its head was easily the size of a car and each of its fangs was about as large the son of Jupiter’s forearm. “Oh gods.” The blond breathed. He tried to calm himself and whispered a prayer to his father as he called upon the storm clouds. Thunder rolled in the distance.

Nico fought with the ease and grace of a professional, which Piper found to be a little sad, as he was a year younger than her. She wondered if the boy had ever had a chance to sit back and just enjoy life. She doubted it.

Nico let out a laugh when it started to rain. He swung his sword with ease, as if it was an extension his own arm. The sound was akin to a battle cry and it made even Piper cringe away from the teen. The lamias bared their fangs at him and hissed, but none of them were foolish to approach him head on. They focused their attention either on Piper, or on running away.

Soon, the duo found themselves back to back, slicing and hacking at reptilian scales and human flesh. Piper reached over Nico’s shoulder to take a stab at a lamia that was a mixture of an Asian supermodel and a cobra. The creature let out a pained screech as Zethes’s blade slashed across her chest. Nico dug his sword into the ground, opening up a chasm that spewed flames and sulfurous gas into the air. Six snake-women fell into the depths of Hades before the pit closed itself.

Piper slid her arm around Nico’s and pulled him out of the way of another direct attack that was aimed at his back. “Be more careful!” She yelled, “You’re getting tired!” It was clear to see. Nico’s face, while still spilt with the grin that was more of a grimace, was haggard and pale. The shadows beneath his eyes looked darker than normal.

“I’m fine!” The Ghost King shouted back over the din of the battle. He stopped short when he saw the Baliskos pass over them, its fangs bared and its tongue flicking out, tasting the air for prey. Even the lamias were scared of the other monster. So much was clear when they started trying to push each other out of the way in order to get away from the beast.

Nico parried a set of claws that were aimed at Piper’s throat, and snarled at the snake-woman who they belonged to. The claws were nothing in comparison to his sword. He swiftly severed the lamia’s head from her shoulders and watched in interest as the rest of her body disintegrated into sand.

Jason watched on from the air as the two demigods down below dealt with their foes. The blond lowered himself back to the ground, so that his feet skimmed the earth, and drew his sword. Thunder crashed and lightening lit up the sky as the Baliskos reared up, snapping its jaws at the sky. The snake was a behemoth. Jason clinched his hand and brought down a bolt of lightning down onto the beast. It caused the serpent to howl and whip its tail around so that it crashed into a building, making the foundation cave in upon itself. Jason prayed that there was no one in there.

The blonde’s eyes flickered down to where the little girl was huddling away from sight, then he turned his gaze back to the hissing creature. He had to get it away from her. It was getting way too close. He took off into the air again, this time willing himself to get closer to the snake, so that it would see him.

“Jason, what in Hades’ name are you doing!?” He heard Nico call up to him.

“I have to get it away from her!” He yelled, ducking out of the way of a clothes line and getting into the monster’s line of sight. The Baliskos snapped its jaws at him threateningly, and he called down another volley of lightning strikes upon it. They had little effect. He was beginning to smell the poison again. With a grunt, he made the wind pick up again, trying to ignore the strain that he felt in his gut.

“Don’t you dare let it touch you! Its skin is deadly, Jason!” Nico’s voice was growing panicked. Jason looked down to reassure him that it was okay, and that everything would be fine. That was a mistake. The serpent’s tail caught the edge of another building, sending shrapnel flying. Jason, of course, took a brick to the stomach and went down.

The collision hurt. The high-pitched scream of fear and the accompanying hiss hurt three times as badly. Jason stumbled to his feet.

“Bianca!” Nicos scream was desperate and panicked. There was a rush of wind and a flash of inky blackness as the son of Hades shadow traveled himself in front of the girl. Piper felt her sword clatter to the ground as the world began to slow and form a tunnel. She didn’t care about the serpent’s tail, or the remaining lamia. All that she could think of was the distinct ‘thump’ as one of the Baliskos’ fangs imbedded itself deeply into Nico’s left shoulder. All that she could hear was the soft exhale of breath that Nico let out when the curved tooth sliced through tissue and cartilage. There was still that determined glint in his eyes as he used the last remains of his strength to switch hands and stab his weapon into the monster’s head. With a guttural cry, the son of Hades dragged the blade down, cleaving the snake’s skull. The Basikos screamed in pain as it tried to get away from the long-sword. It butted Nico out of the way, sending him skidding.

Bianca screamed, cowering as the snake reared up, mad with pain. Nico staggered to his feet, gripping at his wounded arm with a white knuckled grip. With a snarl, he thrust his sword into the creature’s right eye and grinned when it stopped moving. The world went quiet.

Nico looked over to the small girl, who was cowering not three feet from where the snake had fallen. “Please,” He ground out, his eyes desperate, “Go home and forget this happened.” Then he lost his footing and fell. Jason finished off the last of the lamia and raced toward the child of death.

“Nico!” The boy had collapsed onto the concrete road, lying beside his fallen foe. Bianca let out a high pitched scream and ran away. Jason reached out for her, but then turned his attention to the son of Hades. “Nico! Look at me!” Jason raised the boy’s bloodied head from the ground into his lap. He surveyed the wound on his shoulder and tried not to let his fear freeze him when he saw that the skin around the puncture was already turning black.

Black eyes forced themselves open, but were misted and glazed over, “B-Bia—”

“Shh,” Piper whispered, dropping to her knees beside Jason. She trailed a hand through the Ghost King’s hair, “She’s safe. You saved her. Save your breath, please.”

“S-Safe?” Nico choked out, as if not believing the words.

“She’s safe. She’s safe.” Jason said, running shaky fingers over the boy’s sweaty and fevered cheeks. He looked over at Piper with eyes that reminded her of the sky before it started to rain. “We need nectar and ambrosia.”

“It’s all in the van. I didn’t think to bring any.”

“Damn it.” Jason spat out, trying to think of something else, anything else that could save the boy in front of him. “We need to get him into the underworld. Hades will have something.”

“Hades hates you.”

“But he loves his children.”

“Does he?” Jason didn’t respond to Piper’s question. With a grunt, he picked up the child of the Lord of the Underworld.

“Lead the way.” He whispered to Piper. She nodded, not exactly sure of where they were going, but unwilling to let both of the boys down.

 

Thankfully, the Recording Studio entrance was only a block or so away. About halfway there, Jason began to feel the effects of the battle and he stumbled forward. By the time that they reached the old and decrepit building, Jason was close to collapsing and Nico was barely breathing.

Piper took one look at the crowd of spirits and was having none of it. She pulled them to the front of the line. Charon took one look at them and frowned. “How did you all die?”

“How do we get to Hades’ Palace?” She questioned.

“No one is allowed into—”

“HADES, WE HAVE YOUR SON AND HE’S ABOUT TO DIE, SO YOU BETTER GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE TO HEAL HIM OR I SWEAR TO THE RIVER SNYX I WILL MAKE MY MOTHER CURSE YOU!” Piper’s voice echoed off the walls and through the caverns. Charon just looked at her in a mixture of shock, terror, and admiration. There was a burst of wind as shadows began to congeal and form a portal. Hades strode out of the darkness wearing a black toga lined with gold.

“What happened?” He growled as he took in his son’s pained features.

“The Baliskos, that’s what! Heal him!” Jason was the one to snarl those words. He held onto the Italian’s body protectively. He had wrapped both of his arms around Nico’s torso so that the smaller teen could rest his head against his collarbone. Hades’ eyes flashed as he took in the blonde’s expression. Jason flinched back as his mind was barraged with the brutal last moments of the heroes of myth, but he didn’t dare break their eye contact. Hades was the one to look down at Nico. The poison had flowed down his arm through his veins so that it highlighted the maze of capillaries and arteries with black against Nico’s pale skin.

A flash of genuine concern crossed the god’s features as he took in the extent of the damage. “Give him to me.” He ordered, his voice threatening. Jason relinquished Nico reluctantly. Hades immediately turned around, his black robes billowing behind him as he reentered his portal. Jason and Piper looked at one another in confusion and anxiety. The portal remained open for them and only closed when they went through.

Persephone came to the duo when they finally settled outside Nico’s bedroom door. Her face was grave and slightly sympathetic. “I see that he let you stay.” Jason looked up. He had been resting his head against Piper’s shoulder and was holding her hand tightly. Both of them couldn’t find the words to speak with, so they just waited in silence. Piper could only wonder just when Nico di Angelo had become so important to them.

The older woman just looked down at the ground when neither of the demigods answered her. “We are fairly certain that he will be alright, there is no need to worry so much.”

“Who is Bianca?” Those were the first words that Jason had spoken in two hours.

Shock flickered across Persephone’s face before it was overtaken with passive annoyance. “She was his sister. She died in one of Hephaestus’s junk yards when he was eleven.” With that, the goddess of the Underworld walked away.

Jason rested his head against his girlfriend’s shoulder. “Didn’t know that he had another sister.”

“He probably didn’t want to talk about it. You know how he is with Hazel, they were probably really close.” Piper reasoned. She watched as Jason fought to keep his eyes open. She ran a hand through his short hair. “Get some rest. I know that you’re exhausted.” Jason looked up at her, pressed a kiss into her neck, and immediately fell asleep.

They weren’t let into Nico’s room until four hours later. Persephone had come by again to tell them that she had had guest rooms set up for them and to give them both travel roses. “For when you want to leave.” She had said with a surprisingly hesitant look on her features.

Nico still looked pale and weak as he lay on his bed, but the poison had stopped spreading. The blackness, however, had stained his veins. He blinked sleepily at the two other demigods. “W-What are you doing here?” He asked, confusion mingling with tiredness.

“We were waiting for you to wake up.” Jason said, licking his lips.

“I’m awake now. You can—”

“We want to stay with you.” Piper chimed in, not liking the look of genuine disconcertment that crossed the son of Hades’ face at her words.

“Why?” His voice was surprisingly lucid for someone who probably had way too much liquid ambrosia in him.

“Because we care about you, you dumb martyr wannabe.” Piper said, pushing Nico’s hair out of his bangs to kiss his heated forehead. Jason sat down on the floor and took the other boy’s hand in his own. The touch was soft and could have been easily broken if Nico tried. Instead of pulling away, the son of Hades pressed their palms together and intertwined their fingers. Blue eyes met brown. There was a hesitant upturn of Nico’s lips.

“Don’t leave.” He muttered, looking at both of them his eyes wide and vulnerable.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” The son of Jupiter whispered.

Jason jerked awake when he felt Nico’s hand start to tremble. His back hurt and his knees were numb from where he had been kneeling on the marble floors. He immediately rose into a sitting position to stare at the younger teen. He sighed and laid a hand on the Nico’s shoulder. “Shh, Nico, it’s okay, it’s just a dream.” For a minute, Nico calmed. He relaxed minutely and let out a breath that he had been holding. Jason smiled and trailed his hand down the noirette’s forearm. The touch was soft and hesitant. “You’re safe.” The son of Jupiter whispered, as he brushed Nico’s slightly damp bangs away from his forehead. Nico’s breath hitched and he turned toward the window. The street light shined upon his face, exposing the tear traces that made Jason wince and want to wrap his arms around the other teen.

“B-Bianca—” Nico whispered, his voice faltering. Jason stood up and sat himself down on the edge of the mattress. Piper had gone to the other side of the bed sometime after Jason had fallen asleep. He thought she was asleep until he saw her multicolored eyes look at him from across the quilt. She yawned and joined him on the bed as well.

“Nico,” Piper whispered, her voice as soft as a breeze, “Wake up, Nico, it’s just a dream. You are only dreaming.” She jostled him lightly on the shoulder and he jerked away with a choked off cry. His arm went under his pillow, as if he had a weapon stashed underneath the cushion, and looked around with wild and sharp eyes. His breath came out in ragged gasps that were painful to listen to. Jason wanted nothing more than to just hide the boy away from the world at that moment, for the earth had never been kind to any of the di Angelo’s apparently.

As Nico started to shake, his right hand came up to grip at his wounded shoulder. He bit at his lips in order to keep quiet as Jason crawled forward to sit behind him. The blond trailed his thumb across the mostly healed wound, (Thankfully, the tooth hadn’t gone all the way through the boy’s shoulder, so it was healing quite quickly.) trying to get the other teen to breathe with him. Normally, the touch was enough to calm Nico down slightly, so that he could get a handle on himself. That was not the case with tonight.

Piper watched as Nico reached out to grip at Jason’s arm. She watched as Jason’s gaze turned gentle and nuzzled at the Italian’s neck as Nico burrowed into the son of Jupiter’s warmth. She listened to his hiccupping breaths and sighed. She scooted closer to the other demigods and hummed softly. Jason watched her every move with hesitant eyes. She understood. Nico prided himself on his self-reliance. The last thing that he would want is to have to force himself to let another person in. What Jason didn’t know was that she had already gained Nico’s trust.

“Nico,” She whispered, lacing her words with her charm-speak, “Nico, it’s alright. You’re safe. We’re here. You’re safe and we won’t let anything hurt you.” Dark eyes with pupils that were dilated in fear stared at her as she continued to speak. “You are safe. We’re safe.”

“P-Piper? Gods, I-I—”

“Don’t you dare say you’re sorry. It’s not your fault.” Pipe whispered, brushing back black bangs.

“G-Go back to sleep. Both of you.” Another tremor ran through Nico’s frame and the shadows of the room shifted with him. “I-I can handle—”

“There’s nothing wrong with accepting help.” Jason whispered.

“I’m already a coward. I can’t even go to sleep on my own. I can’t even bring myself to eat most days. D-Don’t tell me what I am and what I’m not.”

Jason nuzzled at the Italian’s temple. “I still think that you are brave.”

“Y-You are confused.”

“Not anymore.” Jason curled around Nico protectively, the way that a dragon would guard their treasure. Piper smiled at her boys and snuggled around Nico’s other side. She rested her forehead against Jason’s.

The one bad part about having an extended stay in the Underworld, is that if you are alive you can’t eat the food there. So, every day, Jason had to go out to get them something to eat. This normally ended up being McDonalds, as Nico liked to steal a few of Jason’s fries.

On the afternoon of the second day in Hades, Jason was carrying back a McDouble, a Big Mac, and a large thing of fries. He almost dropped all of the said food when he saw Hades, Lord of the Dead, playing fetch with Cerberus. The god noticed him immediately and rolled his eyes. “If you even think of breathing a word to this to Perseus Jackson or Annabeth Chase, I will see you thrown into the Tartarus.” Hades enunciated each word clearly and carefully as he threw three different balls in three different directions and watched impassively as Cerberus went bounding after them, his tail swishing through ten spirits with every wag.

“O-Of course, sir.” He was about to fly away when Hades spoke again.

“How is Nico?” At the boy’s name, Hades’ voice softened ever so slightly.

“You could come visit him.”

“That would be unwise.”

Jason pursed his lips, “Why? Why are you so scared to let him know that you actually care about him and all of his siblings? That’s why you sent for him, right? You knew that your daughter’s reincarnation was in danger, but you couldn’t let yourself interfere because that would be going against the rules of the dead. So you ordered your best soldier to defend her.”

“You know nothing, boy.” For once Hades didn’t sound angered at Jason’s insolence. He only sounded tired. Hades sighed as Cerberus dropped his chew-toys down at his master’s feet. “What is my son to you, son of Jupiter?” There was an underlying threat in that statement and Jason knew that he was already walking on thin ice wither the King of the Underworld. He swallowed.

“A friend, sir.”

“Only a friend?” Jason shifted uncomfortably under the god’s glare.

“I would like to be something else, but neither Piper or I want to push him.” Jason’s words were soft and they filled the silence of the next few seconds.

“Nico latches onto people, most of whom are not worthy of his attention. He is like his mother in that regard. You, definitely, are not worthy.” Jason winced at the coolness in Hades’ tone.

“I-I—”

“However,” Hades muttered, as if the words pained him to say, “You are better than the last upstart demigod he set his eyes on.”

Jason couldn’t think of anything to say. He just bit his lip and nodded. As he was walking away, Hades said one last thing, “If either of you hurt my son, the Fields of Punishment will look like Olympus in comparison to what I will put you through.”

Jason could only nod at that and try not to shutter.

It took Nico three days to get the rest of the poison out of his bloodstream. It took him another two days to convince his father that yes, he wanted to go back to the upper world and that, yes, he was sure that he was fine. By the end of it all, they were all grateful when Nico teleported Jason and Piper back to the van with a sigh. Piper supposed that they should be glad that it hadn’t been towed.

The minute that Nico crawled into the back seat, he took off his jacket, flopped down, and closed his eyes. Jason looked back at him with a smile.

“Where to next?”

“Mount Vernon.”

“We are not going to see George Washington’s House.” Piper said.

“Have you seen it?”

“You just want to go there to see the mausoleum.” Jason butted it with a grin.

“To each his own. Might I remind you that I didn’t ask you guys to go to Arlington Cemetery with me. Even though I wanted to.” Nico muttered, rolling over onto his side so that he was facing away from the other teens.

“Pick again.”

“Hershey Park, PA.” Piper decided before Nico could speak up. The Ghost King didn’t even look at the woman; he just took his shoe off and threw it at the back of her head. The van swerved, making Nico jump up in alarm. When he saw that Piper was alright, he glared at her. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Is that okay, Nico?” Jason asked.

“Do whatever, I’m going back to sleep.” Nico tried not to nuzzle at Jason hand when the blond brushed aside his bangs. He still felt himself relaxing under the blonde’s touch. It only got worse when Piper looked back at him for a second’s time with a relieved smile etched upon her lips. He refused to let himself think about the implications of what it all meant.

“Are you sure that this is safe?” Nico asked, looking up at the Ferris wheel with obvious discomfort.

“Totally!” Piper assured him, “I went on it with my father’s secretary multiple times the last time that we came here.”

“And how long ago was that?” Nico’s instincts were screaming at him to get off the ride before it started, even as they boarded the car.

“When I was seven.” The look that Nico gave the girl should have killed her.

“I’m getting off.” And he was about to until he looked at the identical pouts on the demigods’ faces. He lasted for the grand total of half a second before he sat back down on the plastic bench. “If this leads to my death I will torture your souls.”

“You’ll have to get in line.” Jason said, rubbing at the back of his head. When in the darkness of the setting sun, Nico could see that he was blushing. Piper bumped shoulders with her boyfriend and they traded a secret smile. Nico shifted uncomfortably and looked down to avoid watching the display of affection. It wasn’t the first time that their almost constant closeness made him easy, but it was the first time that it made his chest hurt with the same, if not greater (It was greater, who was he kidding: he was mostly over Percy, while his what-ever-it-was with Jason and Piper was just beginning.), intensity than when he saw Percy and Annabeth together.

“Hey, Nico, look up.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Please? For me?” That was all the persuasion that Nico needed, he was a weak-willed coward when it came to dealing with the feelings of the people he lov—cared about. Yeah, that was it. Totally it. The theme park had been lit up with lights, showing off all of the spinning and glimmering attractions. On the other side, there was the town of Hersey with its kiss-shaped street lights and old-fashioned roads. Nico blinked several times, taking in the view. Piper was rubbing at her nose with a smirk on her face.

“I always thought that it was really pretty up here. Romantic even.” There was a pointed look at Jason and a whole conversation told through eyebrow movement and head jerks. Nico just watched the Greek and Roman demigods with a half-annoyed, half-bemused expression.

“If you two start making out, I will shadow-travel myself back to the van.” Nico said, readying to stand up to emphasize his point. He stumbled, only for Jason grip him gently around the arm to keep him from falling. The son of Jupiter had risen to his feet as well, perhaps thinking about trying to stop the other from leaving. There was an earnestly desperate spark in the Roman’s eyes because, gods be willing, they had all been through way too much for Nico to still be so oblivious.

Jason hand travelled down, the touch hesitant and timid but sure. His nails brushed against the palm of Nico’s hand before they slipped between the crevices between the Ghost King’s fingers. Jason was the one to press their palms together. Piper watched on in interested terror because there was no way that this wouldn’t blow up in their faces. The blonde’s eyes widened at the son of Hades’ speeding heart rate as it thudded beneath his fingertips.

“Nico? Gods, are you alright?” Nico was panicking. Piper watched as his lips fluttered, trying to form words that refused to come out. Just do it. She pleaded the boy mentally. He wouldn’t mind. He wouldn’t care. Just let us be happy. Let yourself be happy. Please. There was a rush of wind and a flash of darkness. When Piper forced her eyes to open back up, Nico was gone and Jason was standing, looking at the exact spot that the boy had been not moments ago with a confused, hurt, and resigned expression. He collapsed back into his seat and buried his head in his hands.

“Why’d he run? Why does he always have to run?!” Jason growled into his wrists as a gust of wind shook the compartment. Piper found herself reaching for the middle pole to steady herself as she watched her partner.

“He has abandonment issues a mile wide and is terrified that if he lets more people in that he’ll be forced to watch them leave. You expect him to not run when he is faced with the decision of letting more people in or not?” Piper began to fiddle with one of the feathers in her hair and try to keep calm. It wasn’t working. Gods, she hoped that Nico wouldn’t just disappear. They weren’t close to either Chicago or Los Angeles.

 

The minute that the demigods got off of the ride they sprinted towards the park exit. When the got to the van, they found Nico sitting on the cracked asphalt, staring at his feet with a blank expression. He didn’t look at them to signify that he knew of their presence. He just started talking. “I think that I should go.” He whispered, his tone reluctant and hesitant.

Jason immediately sat on the ground next to him, and Piper followed after her boyfriend. Nico’s conflicted expression intensified as he felt their body warmth began to seep through his jacket. 

“Was it something I did?” Jason’s voice was soft.

Nico let out a bitter laugh, soft and saddened. “Not this time, Grace.”

“Do you want to go?” Piper asked, knowing the answer before the boy even opened his mouth.

Nico licked at his lips, unsure as to whether he should be truthful or not. Finally, he groaned and cradled his head in his hands. “No.” He just barely managed to get the one word out.

“Then don’t. Don’t leave.” Jason said, reached down to place his hand on top of Nico’s. The Italian’s breath hitched, but he didn’t move away. Jason slid his fingers through the cracks between Nico’s. Both he and Piper were surprised when Piper did the same with his left hand.

Nico let out a sound that was similar to the whimper of a wounded animal. “Dammit Grace, I can’t stay. My father—”

“No. This isn’t about fathers, or gods, or myths. This is about you.” Piper butted in, tightening her grip on the boy’s hands so that his skull pressed into her ring finger. “This is about what you want to do, how you want to live your life.”

Nico’s whole body was vibrating with nervous tension. “I-I just—I just—” When Nico’s words failed him, he gave up explaining. There was a metaphorical fuck-it in the air as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against Jason’s. Piper watched as her boyfriend’s eyes widened and met her own. Her nod was minute. Jason relaxed, reaching up to trail his left thumb across the Italian’s pale cheekbone. Nico was trembling with nervous energy, his lips were parted, and his hands were twisting uselessly in the folds of the back of Jason’s shirt. He was adorable, Piper decided. She wanted him to stay like that, to never leave her or Jason’s sight (or arms).

It was then that Nico remembered what he was doing. His eyes flew open and he himself away from the Roman soldier. He wiped frantically at his mouth, his eyes wild and terrified and betrayed and hopeful. “W-What are you doing?!” He yelled, his face as white as a sheet as his eyes flickered to Piper, then Jason, then back to Piper.

The girl stepped forward to try to defuse the situation. “Nico,” She whispered calmly, “It’s okay. I—”

“It’s okay? It’s okay!? I just kissed your boyfriend and he kissed back and you aren’t and oh gods, oh gods—” Nico’s breath had gone ragged and he had started hyperventilating. He’s emotions were soaring and he was starting to panic.

“W-What was I—why aren’t you—how could I—stupid, so stupid—can’t breathe, can’t—I’m going to die. I’m going to die. Sto per morire—” Nico’s hands reached up to grip at his temples as his legs began to curl into his chest. His breathing consisted of panted exhales that were forced out of his lungs painfully.

“Shit,” Piper breathed, “He’s having another panic attack.”

“Another?” Jason looked at her, his eyes wide and incredulous. He immediately made his way behind the younger boy and placed his hands on Nico’s flexed shoulders. He gripped them gently, unwilling to make Nico feel pushed or crowded. “I’m not upset. Nico, please…” He whispered those words into the back of Nico’s neck, his eyelashes fluttering in Nico’s dark curls. His closeness to Nico seemed to ease the boy ever so slightly. Piper watched as one of Nico’s hands reached back to curl around Jason’s wrist tightly. His grip was so strong that his knuckles were white. Jason grimaced in pain but didn’t let himself pull away.

Piper bit her cheek and rolled onto her knees. The gravel dug into her shins, but she couldn’t care less. She reached out, hesitating for only a second’s time before she placed her hands on Nico’s arms. She trailed her fingers along his lanky limps only stopping when she reached the tips of his own, much paler, digits.

“Nico, Nico, shh, it’s okay. Really! I’m not angry! I’m not! Nico—“

“How?!” Nico lashed out, his body tense as though he was expecting to have to fend off a blow. “How can’t you be angry?! How can’t you want to—to—” The son of Hades floundered for words, grasping at straws.

“Because we both want you to stay with us. We want you to stay by our side so, we would never try intentionally hurt you.” Jason whispered, his breath warm against Nico’s ear.

“What are you—”Recognition was dawning in Nico’s as Piper smiled.

“It worked for Achilles, Patroclus, and Briseis.” She whispered, wiggling her eyebrows. Nico, as she had predicted, turned a spectacular shade of tomato red. He sputtered indignantly for a few seconds, before curling into his jacket and resting his back against Jason’s legs. He was still breaking heavily and was shaking. He was beginning to calm down.

Jason’s face softened and he began to move his hands away. Nico’s whole body tensed and his face lit up with a desperately panicked expression. “No!” He choked out, his voice ragged, “Don’t go—!” His fingers wrapped around Jason’s forearms and Piper realized the emotion that was gleaming in his eyes.

She cooed softly, against her own will. “Nico, Nico, he’s not going to leave us. I won’t let him. Neither of us will go. I promise, but you need to try to breathe with me, okay? Can you try to do that? You need to calm down a little.” Nico swallowed and even though his eyes were still wide and fearful, even though he was still pale and shaky, he nodded. His grip on their wrists never tightened, but it never faltered. Even after his breaths evened out and his pupils retracted, he didn’t let go. His thumb rested on the middle of the interior of their forearms. It swept across the tendons every couple of seconds, as if he was trying to take in the feel and warm of the limb. It took Jason a couple of minutes to realize that he was feeling for their heartbeats.

 

It was only three hours after, when they were all stuffing their faces with greasy fast food, that Piper realized something. Never once, in their entire conversation, had Nico tried to run away from them.

 

The streets of Philadelphia were crowded and the sun caught on the asphalt, making the already humid air swelteringly hot. Jason was beginning to regret going along with Nico’s plan of seeing the historical landmarks of the place. While the places they visited might have been interesting, he was simply too hot to care. It wasn’t even lunchtime.

As the crowd began to thicken, all three of the demigods grew nervous. This time, however, fate seemed to be on their side. No one attacked them and no monsters snapped at their heels. Tourist and city-folk alike tried to push past each other to get to their intended destination. Nico moved more slowly than most, as though he knew where he was going, but thought that there was no rush to get there. Jason tried not to jerk back in surprise when he felt Nico’s fingers clasp his arm. It took him a minute to calm down before he sighed and pulled back on the Italian’s grip. Brown eyes glanced back warily and with quite blatant apprehension. Jason smiled at them, trying to convey his message of trust and care as he pressed their palms together and slotted his fingers through the gaps between Nico’s.

Piper snickered at them both as she pulled her sun hat lower to over her eyes. She nudged Jason forward a few steps so that he nearly tripped over Nico. This sudden movement startled the younger teen, but for once he didn’t seem angry. Tense and determined, perhaps, but not anger. In fact, there was a shining gleam in his eyes that only came around when he was about to decapitate a monster or twelve. “Nico, you oka—” The other teen pulled the Roman closer, got onto his tip-toes and brushed their lips together.

For a second, all was quiet. Then Jason let out a laugh and Piper bumped into his back. She reached for his right hand. He leaned down to catch her lips in a kiss as well. He could feel her trembling with giddy laughter that she was trying to hold in. She was happy. He was ecstatic. Perhaps even Nico was as well.

It was in that moment that Nico did something that surprised them all. He pulled Jason forward again, which, in turn, made Piper stumble a few steps forward. The daughter of Aphrodite’s eyes widened when the son of Hades pecked the side of her cheek, just a hair’s breath away from her mouth. When Nico pulled back, there was a light dusting of red on his cheeks and a glimmer in his eye. That had meant something, even though it was only a feathery brush of pale lips against darker skin. He would never even think of kissing Hazel in such a way. Piper felt her face splitting into a wide grin as she interlocked her fingers into both of the boys’. With a laugh, she took off in a run.

The desert plains of Colorado flew by in an orange blur as the van sped down the interstate. Jason (who had just taken up driving) looked at the other two teenagers. Piper was drumming her fingers against the dashboard of the van. She had gotten a new pair of jeans from the thrift store in the last town they visited, but she looked the same as ever. Beautiful. Her feet were pressing up against the windshield, uncaring about the marks that they would leave on the glass. Her seat was leaning as far back as it would go so that Nico could reach her hair. The boy’s pale fingers carded through the choppy strands with surprising delicacy. His eye met Jason’s in the rear-view window and he smiled. His bomber jacket had found its way onto Jason’s shoulders somewhere around Nebraska. For just one second, Jason let his eyes close and he took in the warmth of the sun and the scene behind him. He was content with his life.

For the first time since the war ended, he found that he wasn’t worried about the future. For the first time since forever, he found himself feeling whole. Nico was the one to ask the words, this time, his dark eyes peaceful and soft.

“Where to next?”

**Author's Note:**

> Whew. Done. I am never going to do this do this to myself again. Here you go, Purple, I am going to sleep. ;)


End file.
